Late Friday afternoon, I joined Ken Miller and Jim Brinson on KXnO FOX Sports Radio 1460 in Des Moines in another installment of this year’s series to discuss the St. Louis Cardinals, “Cardinal Talk.” I am reporting from New York’s Citi Field as the Mets entertain the Cards for four games.

Cardinals followers in central Iowa can again catch Cardinals radio broadcasts on KXnO as well as my segment each Friday afternoon throughout the season, either over the air or via streaming. My appearances are sponsored by WCI Pools and Spas.

If Garcia goes on the DL, then what? The Cards will choose who will take his place. One option is AAA experienced Dickson, though he has spent a couple of weeks in the ML bullpen, perhaps reducing readiness to start. Another option is Joe Kelly, who has pitched well for Memphis as a rookie. Kelly has been more successful than Shelby Miller at avoiding HRs, 2 versus 10. Kelly arrived in the same draft as Miller, 2009, though as a collegiate will be a few years more mature. Mo can easily add Kelly to the roster, if he chooses to go in his direction.

In the long run, Kelly may have the higher ceiling. It might be constructive to provide him experience starting in the majors. On the other hand, baseball tends to be played in the short run. Who is most ready right now to start a ML game? This might be Dickson.
If another pitcher goes down, it can be both of them.

While a no-hitter, or back to back shutouts can certainly never be expected, after batting around .280 as a team for 50 games and scoring about 5 and 1/2 runs a game, an offensive downturn is inevitable. It’s a matter of when. It just happened now. Just have to hope to snap out of it quickly.